Wednesday, January 27, 2010

I am all about finding new recipe's that are kid friendly and healthy for my family. I have been reading The Eat-Clean Diet for family and kids by Tosca Reno. It is not a diet (even though it says it in the title). It is more about eating a diet full of fruits, vegetables, whole grain natural foods. It stays away from preservatives, white flour and white sugars. We have not gone completely over to this (although I would like to). We are eating better and trying new foods. Tonight I made fish sticks. The following is from Tosca Reno's book which I highly recommend. This is the only book of hers that I have, but she has written others...

"It's hard to believe that fish sticks could be healthy for you. Most commercially available fish sticks with breaded coatings contain dangerous trans fats - these come from partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. Trans fats are known to cause health problems, so I encourage you to stay away from them. Most coatings are also high in unnecessary and unhealthy sugar, saturated fat and sodium. But how do you get your child to eat fish at least once a week without that yummy, crispy coating? Make your own version of breaded fish sticks. You and your family will love them."

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper or spray with a light coating of cooking spray. Cut fish filets into rectangles measuring about 3" x 1 1/2". Try to keep a uniform size and thickness for best cooking results. Set aside.
2. In a medium-sized bowl mix crumbs with seasonings, salt and pepper. In another small bowl mix egg whites and water.
3. Dip each fish stick in egg mixture, allowing excess to drip off. Dip in crumb mixture and lay on prepared baking sheet. Discard extra breadcrumb mixture.
4. When baking sheet is full, place in oven and bake for 5 minutes or until golden on one side. Then flip and bake the other side. You may not need to bake any longer than 4 or 5 minutes, but keep an eye on the fish sticks. The ideal color is golden brown. Once baked, remove from heat and serve hot!

Side note: My kids are picky eaters...well mostly Eliza and she took a few bites.
The kids did use ketchup...which is not part of clean-eating. I am supposed to make my own. I will let you know if I start making my own ketchup. In the future having 3 kids under the age of 3...not sure if I will have the time to do everything from scratch!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Red Falcon Families, Here's the latest update from our troopers in Haiti:
The whole battalion recently moved to the Haitian Ministry of Agriculture
compound. This is about 1 mile due north of the Airport in Port-au-Prince.
This is where they are living and sleeping. For those of you who are savvy with Google Earth or Google Maps, the Ministry of Agriculture building is a blue-roofed structure in a palm grove next to a dirt soccer field. The living conditions are decent by Haitian standards right now. They have some shade and breezeways to sleep in. Still no showers or hot food, but things will only continue to get better for them. Our battalion is responsible for the part of Port-au-Prince that is north of the airport. The major neighborhood they are responsible for is Citie Soleil, which is on the coast. So far they have been busy delivering food and water to thousands of people and have treated hundreds of Haitians who were injured in the earthquake. They have also been meeting the local community leaders and UN peacekeepers in their area to prepare to distribute even more humanitarian aid in the coming days. Our soldiers have been impressing everyone they interact with. Numerous organizations and journalists have commented on how compassionate, disciplined and well-trained they are in all their interactions with the Haitian people. Everyone should be extremely proud of them. I know I am!
V/R Joel D. Radunzel
CPT, IN
1-325 Rear Detachment Commander

I am so proud of my husband and the rest of the 82nd airborne. John called this evening and he sounds great. It was so good to hear his voice.
They had been in port au prince working in a hospital there for about 5 or 6 days and they have just moved to the area where they were talking about above.
More to report as I get more information....

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

I knew after Christmas things were going to be a little crazy. John was scheduled to be out in the field training twice in January and twice in February. We were going to need to find some things to do to keep us busy while Daddy was away. We came home and I got Anna signed up for ballet and tap and I got both girls signed up for gymnastics. I also called Barnes and Noble and found out when they had story time during the week. These weekly activities have been getting us out of the house and keeping us really busy! I am so glad that I discovered all these fun things to do because I was not expecting things to get really crazy around here... Last week John and the rest of the company were called out of the field early for an emergency. John called me and said that he would probably be deploying to Haiti for awhile. They came home and trained for two days, had a day off and then left early Sunday morning. We have absolutely no contact right now and don't know how long they will be gone. They are saying around 60 days, but depending on the situation it could be more or less. I am so proud of my husband and what the 82nd airborne is doing over there!! The girls and I miss John so much, but are doing well. We are counting down the days until he comes home. We are praying for safety for the guys and trusting God through our first deployment.

The girls dancing....

So graceful :)

Look at those moves...see why I put her in ballet and tap :)

One of Eliza's moves...love her :)

Getting tired of dancing.

Pretending they are Mary holding baby Jesus :)

Anna so excited to leave for class! Usually it is a rush to get out the door. Will take more pictures of Anna in her little outfit's soon.

Our last day with Daddy :) It was a beautiful day and took advantage of such a great day by going to the park. We took a picnic and played with the girls for a few hours.

She loves to climb! She found a little boy her age to play with and they had so much fun running all over the park together. When we got home she kept referring to this boy as "My Boy."

Eliza in a cave...

Going down the slide.

Running around :)

Reading their Bible together...I am so proud :)

We would appreciate your prayers for John and my family. We are also still waiting to hear about John's deployment to Afghanistan. I am really praying that we have the summer with John before he leaves. I am getting so excited about having this baby, but a little nervous too. Thinking about having three kids 3 and under while John is away is really overwhelming to think about at times. I am really trying to give it to the Lord and trust his timing in it all.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Yesterday, I found out that we are expecting our third girl :) John is in the field until Thursday so he wasn't able to go to the appointment with me. I left him a message and I am hoping to hear from him soon. I can't wait to hear his reaction. It is just funny that he would end up with three little girls. For those of you that know him he is all Man. He is into sports, outdoors, hunting, fishing, and camping. I am so thankful for a healthy, active baby that is growing beautifully! I just wanted to do a quick update and I hope to get some pictures up soon.